


square theory

by were



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Self-Esteem Issues, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 12:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16974396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/were/pseuds/were
Summary: Theo heard it through the grapevine. Hayden said Corey said Mason said Scott said Melissa said. Something about Liam's mark being too simple. It was an empty square, two inches wide, etched like a mishap on the back of his left forearm.It wasn't a good sign.





	square theory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LI0NH34RT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LI0NH34RT/gifts).



> This is the second of a song drabble exchange I'm doing with Janna. Her song prompt was [Birds of Tokyo - I'd Go With You Anywhere](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM5_t7sQceE).
> 
> This isn't beta'd. Every mistake is my own. Every bad decision too.

Theo heard it through the grapevine. Hayden said Corey said Mason said Scott said Melissa said. Something about Liam's mark being too simple. It was an empty square, two inches wide, etched like a mishap on the back of his left forearm. 

It wasn't a good sign.

The simpler a mark, the more likely a soulmate isn't actually a soulmate. Not by its medieval romantic definition anyway. The fact was, the simpler a mark, the more likely one has a nemesis. And there was no fail-safe way to tell apart if you'd just met the love of your life, your platonic better half, or the embodiment of your impending downfall. The simplicity or sophistication of the matching marks was the only hint people could make assumptions from. Romeo and Juliet had a simple heart mark and they ended up tragic. 

No one really knew where to draw the line between what was simple or what was sophisticated enough. But a square was definitely _excessively_ simple. R&J simple.

Theo was fit snugly in the foot well of the back seats of his truck. He idly studied the square at the back of his own forearm. Night had fallen and he had to keep his arm above him out of the shadows to see the mark, but he didn't keep it in the light for too long, especially when he heard a car pass his truck. He pulled his sleeve over the mark and turned on his side and tried to sleep, but found himself staring into the void of another sleepless night.

People with simple marks typically didn't want to meet their nemesis. It was better – _safer_ that way. But Theo grew up with the Dread Doctors and had gone through hell down underground where light didn't reach. The existence of a nemesis couldn't possibly hurt any more. Or scare him, or take anything away from him because he didn't have anything of worth to take. 

He bit his lower lip and closed his eyes and tried to rub the chill off his skin. 

He was sorely wrong.

It _terrified_ him.

 

 

Liam, on the other hand, didn't show much indication to whether or not he was keen to find his soulmate-possibly-nemesis. Childishly competitive and idiotically protective at times, but he was still his usual self. He smiled radiantly and earnestly on the day he graduated from high school, arms around and head between Corey and Mason, whooped like a child on Christmas when he got into his first choice college lacrosse team, his laughter both loud and shy, making Theo swallow hard and wish he could be a part of the other's life. 

But all he could really do was watch from afar. 

He wondered when the exact moment was when he fell for Liam. He definitely didn't feel that way when they first met; he had barely given Liam a glance, and didn't even give him a second glance when he found value in manipulating the boy. He had been a chess piece on the board. Someone he could have easily discarded. 

Perhaps it was when he realised how big Liam's heart was. Liam looking back at Theo and saying things like he would throw Theo under the bus without hesitation even though Liam looked like he downright refused to allow a single hunter or ghost rider take another person from his life. Even if the person was someone as shit as Theo.

Theo hadn't premeditated it, but he had definitely thought _I wouldn't ever let anyone take you away either_. And he knew he meant it. 

 

But being a potential nemesis meant that he would be, at best, taking Liam away from being, well, _Liam_. At worst, killing them both. A nemesis was prophesized to be the ruin or the end of the other. Theo didn't really want to add that to his list of things he fucked up. And there just had to be a good reason why people recommended not testing fate out. The simplicity of the square was hint enough. They could never be a match. There was no arguing it.

And Theo _should_ take the hint.

*

Liam was back from college for the summer. He was clad in a well-worn t-shirt and shorts, a glass of cold beer in one hand. He was laughing, laidback and comfortable, at something Mason must have said. They were standing outside near the pool at Liam's. There was a summer party, high volume music, a small pack of familiar faces, multi-coloured drinks. If Theo focused enough he could probably hear the crickets in the woods he was watching from, but the party was definitely taking over the neighbourhood. After a full five minutes of contemplation, he left, feeling mildly empty.

The night was warm. Theo pulled up his sleeves a little and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He walked to the edge of a brook, branches cracking under his feet, and sat. He produced a phone and a cig from his pockets, lit the cig, and opened an ebook to read in the moonlight. He had the graveyard shift at the twenty-four hour convenience store, outskirts of Beacon's Hill, in about an hour. He had some time to kill.

 

He'd blame the smoke for not having smelled the newcomer from a mile away. He had to take a few minutes to figure out what was wrong with his cig before he realised it wasn't his smoke but the fact that he was being watched, from only a few feet away.

"You've got guts," Theo murmured into the air, frowning. He put his phone away and flicked his cig in the direction of a tree. It hit something before it could make it to the tree.

"You could have put it out first," Corey's voice came around. He stepped out of the backdrop. He'd received it on the back of his hand and was rubbing it.

"You could have announced your arrival, creep."

"Pot, kettle," Corey said, unimpressed. He kicked a pebble.

Theo pretended he had no idea what Corey was talking about. That, or he pretended he couldn't hear Corey altogether.

"Right. State your purpose."

"We're," Corey paused, "we're just worried—"

"I'm not doing anything. Criminality is passé, deception is a bore when you guys are this gullible. I'm living an honest life now. Please don't worry, I won't be fucking up anyone's lives or drown anyone and take their hearts. Or whatever I used to do."

Corey sighed. "Only Stiles's worried about that. The rest of us – well, frankly, some of us are worried about you. Like, you _you_? Are _you_ okay?"

Theo wished he still had his cig. He needed a drag. He could smell Corey's nervousness and it was rubbing off on him. "Yeah, sure. Everything's peachy, I've never been better. You may go and report back now." He waved Corey off, got to his feet and patted the dirt off his shorts. 

"Liam wants to invite you to the party," Corey added.

Theo turned away. "Right. Last I checked, people get an invitation before the party's started. You know, out of courtesy. Anyways. I'm busy. Apologize in my stead, and tell Liam he can go fuck himself."

For a moment Corey kept quiet, and Theo had thought he'd won the argument, but then he smelled the self-doubt off Corey, like he wasn't sure if it was okay to spill some secrets that should have been spilled centuries ago.

"Theo, we know," Corey asserted quietly, his gaze lowered.

Theo turned around.

 

 

Theo felt like running. He didn't know what to make of the information. Everyone, including Liam, knew they had matching marks, and everyone also knew the mark was simple. Apparently, they heard it through the grapevine and Corey had been tasked to tail Theo and confirm it. Corey looked at Theo apologetically even though Theo didn't quite care about that detail. 

What he wanted to know was what Liam said, thought, felt about it.

Corey said he'd rather Theo ask for himself. 

 

Theo reluctantly agreed to setting up a meeting. He had Corey swear he wouldn't tell anyone. The gang was divided into two teams, according to Corey. Team No-Theo-Period-No-Buts and team Give-Him-A-Chance-2k18. Theo didn't need to be told which team had more votes. He just didn't think Liam would be in the latter. And he didn't quite believe Corey was neutral camp. Theo watched Corey leave, disappear into thin air.

 

Two nights later, the summer wind outside whistled ominously.

When Liam walked into the convenience store in the dead of night and stopped and didn't know what to do with his hands and just tucked them in his pockets and stared right back at Theo like he were the long lost friend or brother he had been looking for across lives, Theo found himself at a loss of words. It was definitely a state he was not used to because he had always been able to talk his way out of anything.

Liam didn't bother with formalities or greetings. He just shrugged, like it was cold, but it wasn't, and then asked, rather gently, "can I see?"

Theo fiddled with the straps of his work-apron. He exhaled shakily and tried to countdown in his mind. What for, he wasn't sure.

Liam noticed. "It's fine. You don't need to. I— How long have you known?"

Theo couldn't remember. 

"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you keep it to yourself?"

"We're not friends, and last I checked, I don't have any?" Theo threw his head back, laughing briefly, hollowly. He massaged his temples. 

"Well, I mean. No one was sure if you knew… or if you were being a jerk."

"Wouldn't have been out of character, would it," Theo said flatly.

Liam crossed his arms and looked away, out the window display. "Jesus, you're irritating. It's like you don't want to try—"

"I don't," Theo affirmed.

Liam looked hurt for a split second, but he quickly frowned, and his eyes darkened. "You think we're nemeses?"

A customer walked in, and Theo took the moment to stay quiet and ponder. He didn't need to think they were nemeses because clearly they were. The image of his square mark flashed across his mind to confirm that theory. The customer put down a case of canned beer on the counter, his hand on top while he busied looking at his phone. There was a crouching tiger insignia on the back of his hand. Theo spaced out for a second wondering if it was a mark or simply a tattoo. 

When the client was gone, Liam stepped to the counter. "They're just theories, you know. I read recent articles on the theory of marks. It's not as pessimistic as what the nineteenth-century French poets make of soulmates. It's not always about destruction – and the complexity of the mark, or lack thereof, doesn't necessarily mean anything. Some researchers think that it's the psychology itself that makes soulmates with simpler marks to turn into nemeses – Mason says it's basically self-fulfilling prophecy psychology. They act and react on blind fear, and that itself drives them to their self-destructions." 

"I'm not scared of self-destruction," Theo murmured.

Something sparked in Liam's eye. "Me either. I mean, think about it. People have the power to turn anything into garbage— _or_ reality – we have agency in this, we can say fuck it and get along, can't we? Fuck these squares. I hate geometry anyways."

Theo turned away and started re-shelving the cans section. "You're delusional."

Liam bit his lower lip, shrugged nonchalantly, and they remained silent for a while. Liam took a bag of Sun chips off a shelf, opened it from the bottom and started snacking. The air quickly filled with the smell of cheddar. Theo eyed him, judgemental.

"You're paying for that."

"Put it on my tab, or something," Liam said, dismissing Theo and picking up a magazine.

"Get your greasy paws off it, no one wants your fingerprints," Theo snatched the magazine and Liam glared. "And also this place doesn't work on a tab basis. Pay up."

"Prick."

"Asshat."

"There should be discounts for so-called nemeses."

"Is that euphemism for robbery in plain sight?"

"Who turned you into an upstanding citizen?"

"Are you sure that's what I am?" Theo retorted.

Liam leaned into Theo's space unexpectedly and studied him with an inscrutable expression. He licked his lips, and Theo could only hear his heartbeat, growing louder in his ears. He swallowed as subtly as he could and looked away, afraid he would be tempted to look at Liam's lips.

"I'm not giving up. And you're not either," Liam murmured, a determined look on his face. He pulled back, left a dollar on the counter, grabbed a Snickers, tipped with a winning grin then took off. The open sign flickered lightly as the door closed, and Theo stood there, as still as he could, trying to even his breath, even his heart, rein his emotions in.

 

 

Theo didn't get to ask any of his own questions. He had many, overcrowding in his vision, overwhelming so much that all he could hear was white noise. 

But knowing that Liam vehemently wanted to give him a chance made him want to curl up and hug his knees against his chest. He willed all the questions away, imagined bubbles sizzling in a bottle of soda, conjured the sincerity in Liam's clear summer sky eyes, and wished that he were able to convince himself enough to be persuaded. 

Persuaded that they were soulmates.

That they were meant to be. That they were allowed to be whatever they wanted to be.

And that together they'll work it out.

 

 

He slept better that night. Maybe he dreamed of blinding sunrays, palm leaf shadows, sun-kissed skin, Liam's lips missing Theo's mouth by an inch, his arms wrapped around Theo's back, laughter lost to the sound of crashing waves. 

 

 

Theo didn't notice until days later when he was shelving potato shelves. His mark – the simple square – had folded onto itself diagonally. He watched it, studied it curiously. It was like origami paper trying to fold itself into something new, something more.

 

 

He touched it, traced it, smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> (the music video is a good hint to what the square folds into.)
> 
> thanks for reading!


End file.
